By Osborne Clarke  Many supply, construction or service contracts include a clause which allows either party to terminate the agreement, or provides that the agreement will terminate automatically, upon the occurrence of various insolvency-related events. However, such clauses allowing for the termination of contracts purely for reason of insolvency of the other party are generally invalid under German insolvency law. Understanding how this might affect your contracts can help you to ensure that you are adequately protected through other contractual provisions,...

By Danaïs Fol | Loyens & Loeff Today, July 11th, the Court of Justice issued an important ruling in the case C-356/15 European Commission versus Belgium. The Court of Justice ruled that Belgian legislation, which provides that Belgian authorities can unilaterally declare posted workers subject to the Belgian social security legislation, is inconsistent with EU legislation. A1 Declaration is presumed to be binding An A1 Declaration is an official document issued by a Member State in which a company that is posting workers is...

TMF Group, in association with ACCA, looks at the big issues for businesses planning to set up or expand in Germany and the tax and accounting regulations to consider. In economic terms, Germany is on a high. In 2017 economic growth in Germany reached 2.2%, the highest level for six years. Unemployment is down to 3.6%, the lowest level since unification in 1990. It is no wonder that companies across Europe and the world see Germany as an attractive destination. It...

Tradewind has provided a $2 million export finance facility to a start-up manufacturer and exporter of home textiles based in India. With the facility in place, the company, who sells to the US and Europe, was able to meet its working capital requirement, accommodate its increasing sales on open account payment terms, and explore potential growth opportunities. As a start-up business, the client struggled securing funding from traditional banks. Because Tradewind works with companies who do not have a long...

By Lisa Patti | AccentC3 When I am coaching entrepreneurs from around the world, the focus is typically on clarity of speech and using intonation and voice to make an impact. That, however, can take many shapes, and one reason for that is the impact of culture on communication. Sergey Zverev, the founder of Bino, explained that being more serious shows confidence in Russia. Less facial expression and intonation are commonly used to demonstrate that. In Vietnam, however, speaking in a softer...

By Joel Cooper |Daan Arends | DLA Piper On 5 June 2018 the World Customs Organization (WCO) published "Revenue Package Phase III" which is a package of all available tools and instruments (including, inter alia, formal instruments and conventions, guidance notes and training materials) that are relevant to revenue collection by customs authorities. This package covers a number of new initiatives relating to Origin, Valuation, Customs Laboratories, Post-Clearance Audit, as well as Customs-Tax Cooperation.  As part of the new materials on Valuation,...

By Dan Roskis | Partner | Eversheds Sutherland On 14 June 2018, the French Minister of Economy announced its intention to review the decision by which the French Competition Authority (the “FCA”) cleared the acquisition of certain securities and assets of Agripole group (“Agripole”) by Financière Cofigeo (“Cofigeo”) subject to conditions1. This is the first time the French Minister of Economy (the “Minister”) uses its own so-called ‘evocation’ power since it was introduced in 2008 in the Article L. 430-7-1 of the French Commercial...